Movie Review: At Eternity's Gate

At Eternity's Gate **** / *****

Directed by: Julian Schnabel.

Written by: Jean-Claude Carrière and Louise Kugelberg and Julian Schnabel.

Starring: Willem Dafoe (Vincent Van Gogh), Rupert Friend (Theo Van Gogh), Oscar Isaac (Paul Gauguin), Mads Mikkelsen (The Priest), Mathieu Amalric (Dr. Paul Gachet), Emmanuelle Seigner (Madame Ginoux), Niels Arestrup (Madman), Anne Consigny (Teacher), Amira Casar (Johanna Van Gogh), Vincent Perez (The Director), Lolita Chammah (Girl on the Road), Stella Schnabel (Gaby), Vladimir Consigny (Doctor Felix Ray).

 

Julian Schnabel has been at his best when making films about artists, in part because as an artist himself, he understands them, and in part because he seems more interested in that art, and the process that made it, than it delivering a more traditional biopic structure – which mainly seems to want to be a greatest hits collection of a subject’s life. In At Eternity’s Gate, he turns his camera on Vincent Van Gogh, in the final months of his life, and while there are probably few painters least in need of another film about them than Van Gogh (we already have Vincente Minelli’s more traditional Lust for Life (1956), Robert Altman’s Vincent & Theo (1990), which focused on both Van Gogh brothers and Loving Vincent (2017), an animated film that sought to recreate the look of Van Gogh’s paintings on screen, and covered much of the same ground as this film (but shrouded in an unnecessary mystery) – the film still works, as it attempts to do something different – to look at the world askew like Van Gogh, as he struggles with fitting in, and seeing the world in his way. It also helps that Willem Dafoe delivers a remarkable performance as Van Gogh – even if Van Gogh died in his 30s, and Dafoe is now 60, he was still perfectly cast.

 

As he is want to do, Schanbel’s camera in the film is constantly moving, constantly restless, and constantly in close-up on his actors faces as they go about their lives. For Van Gogh, that meant painting and little else – he didn’t care for anything else, he didn’t want to do anything else, and when he did anything else, that’s when the trouble happened. This film is perhaps at its best when it is at its quietest – when it watches Van Gogh sitting in front of his easel, out in the fields he was painting – and watching as he transforms what is in front of him into the art on his canvas. As he says in the film, he wonders why he doesn’t see things in the same way as other people do – but it’s that not seeing things in the ways others do that made him the artist he was.

 

The film does have more traditional story elements as well. Oscar Isaac co-stars as fellow artist Paul Gauguin (a role Anthony Quinn won an Oscar for in Lust for Life) – who was Van Gogh’s friends, and comes to stay for a time in the same small town as Van Gogh. Their approaches to art and painting are different – and they argue, passionately, about it – but it was these arguments that kept Van Gogh going. When Gauguin leaves, it is for him that Van Gogh cuts off his ear as an offering.

 

The film gets close with Van Gogh as he tries to explain himself. One of the best scenes has him meetings with a Priest (Mads Mikkelsen), who has to decide if he should let Van Gogh out of the mental hospital he is being confined in. Whether or not Van Gogh would have the insight and self-awareness he shows in this scene is debatable – but it feels right when he argues it.

 

For Schanbel’s film to work, he needed a performer like Dafoe – one of those actors who seems to always be daring, always be pushing himself forward. This role couldn’t be more different than the one he should have won an Oscar for last year (The Florida Project), except for how completely Dafoe understands these characters. This is a committed performance, one unconcerned with vanity, and more concerned with inhabiting Van Gogh’s troubled soul. It’s a great performance – and it elevates the whole film.

 

As a filmmaker, I still think that Schnabel would be better served to calm down sometimes – to let things play out a little more without imposing his style on every second, every frame. But when the films work, it is overwhelming and effective – a brilliant portrayal of a brilliant artist.

Movie Review: The Wild Pear Tree

The Wild Pear Tree **** / *****

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan   

Written by: Akin Aksu and Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

Starring: Dogu Demirkol (Sinan Karasu), Murat Cemcir (Idris Karasu), Bennu Yildirimlar (Asuman Karasu), Hazar Ergüçlü (Hatice), Serkan Keskin (Suleyman), Tamer Levent (Grandfather Recep), Öner Erkan (Imam Nazmi), Ahmet Rifat Sungar (Ali Riza), Akin Aksu (Imam Veysel), Kubilay Tunçer (Ilhami), Ercüment Balakoglu (Grandfather Ramazan), Kadir Çermik (Mayor Adnan), Özay Fecht (Grandmother Hayriye), Sencar Sagdic (Nevzat), Asena Keskinci (Yasemin Karasu).

 

There is very possibly a better version of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s The Wild Pear Tree that runs only two hours or so, instead of the epic three hours and ten minutes that the final version does. But while a shorter film may have been a better film, I cannot help but think it would less of a Nuri Bilge Ceylan film than the version we got. Ceylan’s films – in particular his last three – Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Winter Sleep and now this – are all long films, made up of long conversations, as our main characters gradually come to some sort of realization. In Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (which is my favorite of his work), it is a group of cops with a murderer driving around the countryside, as the murderer tries to remember where he buried his victim. Eventually, everything is learned about the crime – and yet, nothing is learned – the closer you look, the less you understand. In Winter Sleep, it was about the main characters slow dawning realization that he is not the beloved figure in his small town he thought he was – he is actually hated, and with good reason. By the end, he realizes he is an asshole. In The Wild Pear Tree, it is about the young would be writer, Sinan Karasu (Dogu Demirkol), freshly graduated from university, and so sure of himself, his ideas about writing, his ideas about his father, etc. – who over the course of three hours and many, long conversations who realizes he doesn’t understand as much as he thinks he does – and that he is a lot more like his father, who he hates, than he cares to admit. Yes, you could make a shorter version of this film – and it may be more conventionally satisfying (and more people would likely see it) – but I like what Ceylan does, and admire the fact that he takes his time getting there. The payoff, when it comes, means more.

 

When we first meet Sinan, it is as he walks through his small hometown, just graduated from college, and he is accosted (in a friendly way) but a shopkeeper, who wants Sinan to remind his father, Idris (Murat Cemcir) about the gold coins he lent him months ago. Sinan seems hardly surprised that his father owes money – his father always owes money. He is a gambling addict, and already the family has had to downsize into an apartment from their house, and Sinan’s mother, Asuman (Bennu Yildirmlar) has confiscated her husband’s credit card, and makes him give her his entire paycheque he earns as a teacher as soon as he gets it. It doesn’t help – Idris finds more and more ways to get, and lose, money. Like his father, Sinan has trained to be a teacher – there will be an exam the next week, and if he does well, he will be assigned a teaching post – perhaps in the dreaded East – but somewhere. But Sinan is convinced he is a writer. He has written a novel – called The Wild Pear Tree – but is very coy about what the novel is about. He says it refuses categorization (don’t all young authors first novels, in their mind, refuse categorization) – but it basically sounds like a bunch of short stories about the people in his home town. He is determined to get the book published – he has a friend at the printers who can help get the novel printed for a good price – but of course, he doesn’t have the money.

 

Through the course of the film, Sinan will have long conversations with people about his work, his life and what it all means. There is the Mayor, who Sinan foolishly thinks will give him the money to publish the book, but since it won’t help with tourism, why would he? The self-made man, who reads a lot, but dropped out of high school, who has very definite ideas about the types of things Sinan should write about – especially if he expects him to finance it. There is the celebrated, older author (a great performance by Serkan Keskin), who Sinan subtly, and then not so subtly, needles and insults about his own work, before finally asking for help. A pair of Imam’s. And old school mate, Hatice (Hazar Ergüçlü), who is about to marry an older, financially secure man – because isn’t that what you’re supposed to do if you’re a woman? Between these long scenes of debate and discussion, there are the home scenes, where Sinan butt’s heads with Idris, and even his mother, who is frustrated with him, but stands by him. The film never really says how much time passes, but it becomes clear near the end of the film that it is at least a few years from the beginning to the end. Through it all, Sinan seems to get worn down a little bit – the novel doesn’t really work out, the teaching career is still an option, but he hasn’t done that either. The things he has done to get money aren’t that different to what his father would do. The last sequence in the movie is a long conversation between father and son – and Sinan finally realizes their similarities.

 

The Wild Pear Tree, tellingly, doesn’t really provide any answers to the various questions it raises – the various debates at its core. At the end of the film, Sinan has to (literally) keep digging for those. Maybe he’ll never find them. Maybe he will become a celebrated artist now that he understands more. Maybe he’ll be worn down by life like his old man. Maybe something else will happen. Yes, The Wild Pear Tree is a long film – but it uses that length wisely, and this is not really an example of “slow cinema”. The film is full of words, full of ideas. It is also a beautiful film. There is never a doubt about whose work this is. While I don’t think the film quite hits the same heights as Once Upon a Time in Anatolia or Winter Sleep – it is another wonderful film by Ceylan – whose work continues to fascinate and challenge.

Movie Review: Ralph Breaks the Internet

Ralph Breaks the Internet *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Phil Johnston and Rich Moore.

Written by: Phil Johnston & Pamela Ribon and Rich Moore and Jim Reardon and Josie Trinidad.

Starring: John C. Reilly (Ralph), Sarah Silverman (Vanellope), Gal Gadot (Shank), Kristen Bell (Anna), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel), Kelly Macdonald (Merida), Alan Tudyk (KnowsMore), Auli'i Cravalho (Moana), Ming-Na Wen (Mulan), Taraji P. Henson (Yesss), Idina Menzel (Elsa), Ed O'Neill (Mr. Litwak), Alfred Molina (Double Dan), Jane Lynch (Calhoun), Jodi Benson (Ariel), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Jack McBrayer (Felix), Flula Borg (Flula Borg), Ali Wong (Felony), Irene Bedard (Pocahontas), Peter Cullen (Eeyore), Jennifer Hale (Cinderella), Paige O'Hara (Belle), Linda Larkin (Jasmine), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Colleen Ballinger (Miranda Sings), Ana Ortiz (Karillo), Rebecca Wisocky (Ebay Elayne), Timothy Simons (Butcher Boy), Kate Higgins (Aurora), Rich Moore (Sour Bill), Mark Rhino Smith (God), Pamela Ribon (Snow White), Jamie Elman (Rancis Fluggerbutter), GloZell Green (Little Debbie), Kent Boyd (Skeleton Dancer), Della Saba (Swatti), Dani Fernandez (Dani Fernandez), Hamish Blake (Pyro), Tiffany Herrera (iHasCupquake). 

 

There is no secret that almost all animated films for kids are message driven movies – they want kids to believe in themselves, be kind to each other, etc. There are a handful of messages that they almost all have in common – and very infrequently do they deviate from those tried and true messages. This year though, we’ve had two such films that offer a different message – the mediocre animated film Smallfoot argues that you shouldn’t just believe the passed down wisdom of generation after generation, because often, that is built on lies to get you to do what they need. And in Ralph Breaks the Internet, the message seems to be don’t be such a clingy jerk that you ruin your friendships. That’s a little simplistic sure – but that is the basic message here: that friendships evolve and change, and if you aren’t willing to do the same, your friendships will die. This is an actual more important message for kids to grasp.

 

It’s also really only in the last act of Ralph Breaks the Internet, the follow-up to the exciting and fun 2012 film Wreck It Ralph, where the bad guy from a Donkey Kong like video game finally gets to be the good guy – at least, while not playing the game, and make some friends of his own. His best friend was Princess Vanellope, one of the racers from Sugar Rush – a racing game where the drivers smash through candy tracks in search of a prize. Wreck It Ralph was a Disney film, although it shared a lot more in common with Pixar films, that most Disney films do. The same can be said of its sequel – that takes its characters out of the confines of the one video arcade of the predecessor, and places them in the internet this time around. You could probably question the mechanics of how the internet here works – but you’re probably better off not doing so.

 

So this time, John C. Reilly’s Ralph and Sarah Silverman’s Vanellope, head to the internet because they need to get a new steering wheel for Sugar Rush, or the game will be sold off for parts, leaving Vanellope homeless. When they get to the internet though, they find out to buy something, you need money. Long story short, they have to start exploring some of the darker parts of the internet – clickbait, the dark web, Youtube, large scale role playing games, etc. to get it.

 

Much of the first two acts of Ralph Breaks the Internet is fun, brightly colored action – from a Grand Theft Auto type game, to trips to ebay and the Disney Website (complete with the Princesses, which is the best part of the movie – which of course they gave away completely in the trailers). The movie is so busy with plot, and explaining itself, that it hardly has time for anything else. The movie wisely leaves almost all the characters from the first movie behind (there is nothing worse than sequels who try and shoehorn in every character from the original film when they don’t fit) – but doesn’t introduce a lot of new ones. The best new character is clearly Shank (Gal Gadot), the big bad guy in that Slaughter Race – who actually develops a sweet relationship with Vanellope. It’s the type of relationship you rarely see between two female characters in any film – let alone an animated film for children.

 

The ending of the film has Ralph having to accept that people change. This is a hard lesson for adults to learn, let alone children. The way the film handles it is fascinating, and quietly moving. Considering how busy the first two acts are with plot, the way it all ends it more moving than anticipated. The movie lacks the originality of the first film – but it does trade easy nostalgia for something else this time around – some more timely (that may date the film more quickly), but works. If we are stuck with more animated sequels (and we will) – we need more like Ralph Breaks the Internet that try and go in different directions than the original.

Movie Review: Creed II

Creed II **** / *****

Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.

Written by: Sylvester Stallone and Juel Taylor and Cheo Hodari Coker and Sascha Penn based on characters created by Ryan Coogler.  

Starring: Michael B. Jordan (Adonis Johnson), Tessa Thompson (Bianca), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), Dolph Lundgren (Ivan Drago), Florian Munteanu (Viktor Drago), Phylicia Rashad (Mary Anne Creed), Russell Hornsby (Buddy Marcelle), Wood Harris (Tony 'Little Duke' Burton), Michael Buffer (Michael Buffer), Andre Ward (Danny 'Stuntman' Wheeler), Christopher Mann (Dr. Ewell), Brian Gallagher (Jeff Shockley), Emmanuel Carter (RJ), Paris Michael Cunningham (Amara Creed). 

 

2015’s Creed, which was both the continuation of the Rocky franchise (it’s seventh film) and kicked off the Creed franchise, was a shockingly good movie. It should not have been too surprising, given that it was directed by Ryan Coogler – who had proven himself a fine filmmaker with Fruitvale Station – but what could have been an easy pay cheque movie turned into something deeper, while still being an entertaining piece of studio filmmaking, with great performances and real heart. It was the best Rocky film since the original – and announced some major new talent. Creed II is nowhere near as good as Creed was – and yet for a studio sequel, and a sports movie programmer, it is still a hell of a lot of fun, and a hell of a movie in its own right. No one is getting nominated for Oscars this time around (although, only Stallone got nominated last time) but in an era of constant sequels – most of which disappoint – perhaps its worthy celebrating a fun sequel like Creed II. As predictable and formula driven as this is, there is a reason why the Rocky formula has endured for more than 40 years now.

 

We pick up a few years after the original film, with Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) challenging for and winning the Heavyweight Champion of the World belt in a fight against the aging champ – a fight that no one much liked, because the outcome was a foregone conclusion. An enterprising boxing promoter, Buddy Marcelle (a underused Russell Hornsby) comes up with a plan for Adonis to fight Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu) – the son of the infamous Ivan Drago (Dolph Lundgren) – the man who killed Apollo Creed in the ring in 1985, and then was beat by Rocky himself in Rocky IV (by the way, anyone else notice that this film tells us that Apollo died in 1985, and that his son is 28 years old?) Anyway, Ivan has raised his son with a single purpose in mind – to redeem his failure. He has been living in the Ukraine in shame for all the decades since – having been abandoned by everyone, including his wife (you will probably guess who plays her when she does show up, but in case you don’t, I won’t say anything). Viktor is big and mean and punches really, really hard. He is mostly an unknown, and has never really been tested – no one can last that long in the ring with him. The fight will be huge. Adonis wants to take it – but Rocky refuses to help him train for it, telling him he doesn’t need the fight. On the more personal side, Adonis is about to propose to Bianca (Tessa Thompson) – and that is before she finds out she is pregnant.

 

You can probably write the screenplay yourself with this setup, and you would most likely come up with something much like what happens in Creed II. It is a story of hubris, humbling and triumph and this movie hits all the beats you expect it to. Sure, this is a formula, but it works. It works because Michael B. Jordan is so good as Adonis, and carries the movie on his charming back, and because Stallone in particular adds a level of emotion that is needed here. His regret over what happened to Adonis’ father is palpable here, and does a lot of emotional heavy lifting – perhaps too much so. I would have liked to see Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad, as Adonis’ adopted mother, given more of that lifting – but it works with Stallone as well.

 

If there is a missed opportunity here, it is with Ivan and Viktor Drago. Both Lundgren and Munteanu are actually quite good in this movie – but they aren’t really given much to do other than glower and be stereotypical mean Russians. There is another version of this film, where their relationship more directly mirrors the relationships between Rocky and Adonis (they would not have had to do much, it’s pretty obvious) and made them into more than just stereotypical bad guys – it also would have helped to make that ending, which is already good, hit all the harder.

 

Coogler is back for this film as director – he was undoubtedly busy with Black Panther – and while the direction by Steven J. Caple is good here, it doesn’t reach the same level as Coogler’s film. It is slicker and shinier – with the rougher, tougher edges shaved off. Then again, the whole movie is slicker and shinier, so it works here. Creed II isn’t a legitimately great studio franchise film like Creed was – but it’s about as good as we can expect from an audience crowd pleaser – the eight entry in a 40+ year old franchise.  Yes, it’s more clichéd, but the clichés work.

Movie Review: Border

Border *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Ali Abbasi.

Written by: Ali Abbasi & Isabella Eklof & John Ajvide Lindqvist based on the short story by Lindqvist.

Starring: Eva Melander (Tina), Ero Milonoff (Vore), Jorgen Thorsson (Roland), Ann Petren (Agneta), Sten Ljunggren (Tina’s Father).

 

A warning before I start the review proper of Ali Abbasi’s Border – this is a very strange film, and one that will probably work best if you go into it completely cold. It works much better in the early scenes of the film, when you’re trying to figure out what the hell is going on, then it does later in the movie, when it explains everything. Quite frankly, the explanation of what is happening and why is ridiculous – but then again, it’s probably just about the only thing that could explain what leads up to it. It is an extremely odd film – and for that I admire it, despite my misgivings about where it seemingly ends up – which seem to be growing the more I think about the film. Okay, so you’ve been warned – and while I’ll try and stay away from spoilers, it’s hard to tell what exactly is a spoiler, and what isn’t in Border.

 

Anyway, the film stars Eva Melander as Tina – a woman who works as a border agent in Sweden, who has an uncanny ability to sniff out – literally – when people are hiding something. This isn’t just stuff like drugs – she isn’t a drug sniffing dog – but she can tell their emotional state, and when therefore, when they’re hiding just about anything. Her co-workers may admire her ability, but they’re still off put by her – the constant sniffing, her brusque manner, and quite frankly her looks. While she is clearly all there mentally – she looks, well, different, from everyone else. She doesn’t have much of a social life either – she lives with a man who raises dogs, but they are not romantic in any way. There are a few other, slightly more reserved friendships (that seem to be there basically for plot) – and an aging father in a retirement home, whose memory is fading. Then one day at her job she meets Vore (Ero Milonoff) – and can tell he is hiding something, although they cannot find it on him – even after going through, well, everything. He flirts with her – and, well, it’s clear that whatever Tina has that effects the way she looks, Vore has the same thing. It isn’t long before he has moved into her guest house, on her remote forest property – much to Roland’s chagrin. Her abilities also attract the attention of the police, who want her help to track down a child pornography ring.

 

Most of what happens aside from the relationship between Tina and Vore is a distraction though – and not really necessary ones. It’s clear from their first interaction that there is something between them – that the pair are drawn to each other. Tina senses, not incorrectly, that Vore knows things that she doesn’t – and she wants to find out what those things are. Whereas Tina is painfully shy and awkward, and takes every sideways glance, or half overheard comment to heart – Vore doesn’t seem to notice, or care, what people around him think.

 

The opening scenes in Border are the best – when director Ali Abbasi is detailing Tina’s regular life, and she and Vore are (almost literally) sniffing each other out. The makeup work done to the two lead actors is impressive – the type of work that gets a small foreign film like this an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup (Sweden also submitted the film – which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes for Best Foreign Language Film – good luck with that one!). As the film moves along, it becomes both more of a fairytale of sorts, and a police procedural. You may very well wonder why Abbasi has decided to tell two entirely separate plots in the movie – but he has a point, and unfortunately, it’s more conventional than I would prefer.

 

Yet Border is such a strange film, and offers so much that is unconventional, that perhaps the more conventional ending and storytelling in the third act is too be expected. There is an even more daring, less conventional film, lurking somewhere in Border than this is – and that’s the film I would have loved to see. But perhaps, that would all just be too weird.

Movie Review: Blindspotting

Blindspotting **** / *****

Directed by: Carlos López Estrada.

Written by: Rafael Casal & Daveed Diggs.

Starring: Daveed Diggs (Collin), Rafael Casal (Miles), Janina Gavankar (Val), Jasmine Cephas Jones (Ashley), Ethan Embry (Officer Molina), Tisha Campbell-Martin (Mama Liz), Utkarsh Ambudkar (Rin), Kevin Carroll (James), Nyambi (Yorkie), Jon Chaffin (Dez), Wayne Knight (Patrick), Margo Hall (Nancy), Ziggy Baitinger (Sean 'Ziggy' Jones).

 

It’s hard to pin down Blindspotting – which is a wildly ambitious movie – in terms of what it is actually about. It is about race and gentrification and police violence – all in Oakland, a city that, like many, has changed so much over the years the long term residents barely recognize it anymore. It is also a film about language – the dialogue, written by its two stars, is so good because its poetic in a way we don’t often see in a movie, and leads to the films climax – which we expect will be action driven, and is instead, a long, rap infused monologue that shouldn’t work logically, but ends up working brilliantly. It’s a film that is entertaining and disturbing in equal measures – and while it leaves you asking questions more than providing answers, that is mostly a good thing.

 

In the film, Hamilton break-out Daveed Diggs stars as Collin – who has just gotten out of jail, and is in the waning days of his year-long probation, when he will hopefully be able to get his life back on track. His best friend is Miles (Rafael Casal) – who unlike Colin, is white, but compensates for that by wearing a grill, having a hair trigger temper, and basically, just trying to be the toughest guy on the block, even if it’s more of an act than he would like to admit. By contrast, Collin is the calm one – the one always trying to talk his friend down from the ledge. He’s also the one more likely to be stopped by the cops – something they both know, but don’t talk about (it may well be the reason why Collin went to jail, and Miles did not – when we finally hear the story of what happened).

 

Diggs and Casal co-wrote the movie together, and like their characters, are longtime friends from Oakland. The city has changed over the years – and the film represents this in the job the pair do together as moving me – constantly packing people up, and moving them out of the city they can no longer afford. To make matters worse, for Miles anyway, the tech bros who are moving in look a lot like he does – he even gets mistaken for a hipster more than once in the movie, which he takes great offense to, being Oakland born and bred.

 

Early in the film, Collin witnesses a shooting of an unarmed black man at the hands of the police. He doesn’t do anything with this – he has no proof, he was the only witness, and (probably rightly) assumes that if he, someone still on probation, were to make a fuss, he’d end up in back jail. But the incident haunts him just the same – in a series of nightmares – and it is what leads to the climax of the movie – which is the most unlikely climax of the year in many ways – but one that works.

Diggs and Casal’s screenplay here is excellent – both of them are lyricists of some kind or another, and their dialogue has a musicality to it even when it seems like they are just speaking to each other. They are doing so with heightened words. The pair play off each other brilliantly – probably nowhere better when all the things that haven’t been said between them, finally does get said – how Miles will never understand what it’s like to be black in America – something he knows, but feels shame for (he allows both Collin and his wife – who is also black – to call him something he would never call either of them). But then Miles responds – informing Collin that it isn’t easy being the only white kid on the block either – which is why he overcompensates. Collin is annoyed by the changing neighborhoods in his hometown – but Miles is apoplectic.

 

Blindspotting doesn’t really try and answer the questions it raises – at least not completely. The long monologue that acts as the climax does some of that, but not in a way that is preachy. You may well question the reality of that finale – and fair enough – but we’ve seen the more realistic ending of this story, and it’s not one I would prefer for this film. That ending wouldn’t being nearly as challenging as this one is. The film announces three major new talents to film – it proves Diggs is a versatile performer and writer, and gives us his equally talented co-star, Casal. And director Carlos López Estrada finds a way to mix all the tones and styles into one cohesive movie. Blindspotting sneaks up on you – and it delivers.

Movie Review: The Christmas Chronicles

The Christmas Chronicles ** / *****

Directed by: Clay Kaytis.

Written by: Matt Lieberman.

Starring: Kurt Russell (Santa Claus), Judah Lewis (Teddy Pierce), Darby Camp (Kate Pierce), Kimberly Williams-Paisley (Claire Pierce), Lamorne Morris (Officer Jameson), Martin Roach (Officer Povenda).

 

Most Christmas movies are bad. I think we all understand this, because after all, there isn’t all that much you can do with the formula. They are all a variation on A Christmas Carol or The Grinch, where someone needs to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas, which they do over a long Christmas Eve, with the snow gently falling, and Christmas music swelling in the background. And yet, we watch these films don’t we? We watch them again and again and again – sometimes because we have small children who like them, sometimes just to kill time while the weather outside is frightful, so it’s easier to make some hot chocolate and watch some cheesy Christmas movie. This year, Netflix has added generically titled The Christmas Chronicles to the list of Christmas movies – and you know where it’s going from the start, and it gets there in probably the least interesting way possible. Is it a bad movie? Undoubtedly. Did I still have fun watching it with my two kids as we all sipped hot chocolate? You know it.

 

This movie is centered on the Pierce family – who we witness through home movies at the start of the movie which ends at Christmas 2017, and we soon realize that this will be the first Christmas without the father of the family. The three surviving members aren’t handling things very well – but each in their own way. Mother Claire (Kimberly William-Paisley) is working too much to try and keep everything afloat – including picking up an extra shift on Christmas Eve. Teenager Teddy (Judah Lewis) has been hanging out with some nogoodnicks, and getting into trouble, and 10-year-old Kate (Darby Camp) is trying to keep everyone happy by trying way too hard. It isn’t working. But on those home movies, Kate thinks she sees a red sleeve – and that means Santa. So she comes up with an idea to get a better video of him this year. Needless to say, everything goes horribly wrong, and Santa (Kurt Russell) crashes his sleigh, and ends up enlisting the Pierce children in trying to get Christmas back on track.

 

This movie knows it cheesy, and it embraces it – no one more so than Russell, who seems to be having a lot of as Santa – especially when he gets to dispel the illusion that Santa says “Ho Ho Ho” all the time – by calling it fake news. There is also an Elvis inspired musical number in jail cell with Russell, because I guess why cast Russell as Santa unless you were going to have him do an Elvis inspired musical number in the first place?

 

Like many a kids Christmas movie before it, The Christmas Chronicles has a plot that is way too busy – moving from one place to another, one city to another, with lightning speed, but little charm. It also decides it needs to build the Christmas mythology from the ground up once again, and does so in confusing fashion – including some very strange elves, which I cannot figure out if they were cute or creepy (likely both).

 

So, no, the movie isn’t great. I don’t expect it to become a holiday tradition – like say The Santa Clause (which, admittedly, isn’t great either) or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation or A Muppet Christmas Carol (the latter of which is the one I have watched every Christmas Eve since I met my wife 16 years ago). But, if you’re tired of all those – and just want to watch something different this time this certainly isn’t a horrible movie to watch – especially if you’re curled up on the couch with the kids, with hot chocolate (provided you’ve added something extra to yours). It isn’t very good – but it doesn’t really have to be.